Bouillon cube machine



y 1940- L. BROWNSTEIN BOUILLON CUBE MACHINE Filed Dec. 23, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOI? .LOULS Brawnszem TTO R N EY Filed Dec. 25, 1937 a She ets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR I [.0015 .Brownszem BY 7,4M

ATTORNEY May 7, 1 BROWNSTEIN BOUILLON CUBE MACHINE 3 Sheets-She et 3 Filed Dec. 23, 1937 AT RNE Y INVENTOR s Brawnstem EEEEEE QQQQ 9%,

Patented May .7, 1940 r rattan.

I Bo iLnoN CUBE MACHINE Louis Brownstein, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Liebig Products Co Inc.,- New York, corporation of New York v Application December 23, 1937,

l Claims.

This invention re'lates'to machines for making bouillon cubes and particularly to that type of machine which is largely automatic in its opera tion. a

Q The stock from which bouillon cubes are made is of a highly adhesive character, having atendency tozstick to metal and therefore being difficult for-automatic machinery to handle. The inven- 1 tioncontemplates the provision of a machine 0.. .Iiv

and carried to a convenient point for removal. The invention further contemplates the provi- 5; slot: of means which may be readily kept ina clean and sanitary condition for automatically forming bouillon cubes while preventing the cubes and the stock from which they are formed from adhering to the various partsof the machine with :59 whichit comes into contact, so that perfect cubes are produced withoutdanger of the machine being gummed up; or halted by loose material.

I The various objects of. the invention will he.

clear from the description which 6 I from the drawings; in which: 4 l is'a front-view of amachine embodying .the invention.

Fig, 2 is a side view of the same.

follows, .and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section and par tial side view of'the' same. v

'Fig. 4 is a. partial transverse vertical section taken on the line 44 of-Fig. 2. I I

'Fig. 5. is a fragmentary vertical section taken on-the'line 55 of-Fig. 4 showing the ejector i bar operating mechanism. 1

a In the formillustrated, aconveyor chain is pro, vided on'which cube-receiving plates are removably mounted and intermittentlyforwarded. j The uppersurfaces-of the plates are somewhat moistened by the spray directed to'other parts of the machine; or said surfaces'inay be sprayed if desired; The moisture on "the plates prevents the.

finished doouillon cubes from adhering thereto; Bouillon. stock in bulk is inserted bythe operator 1:; into a hopper fromwhich the stock is fed to an intermittently rotating mold cylinder, the molded cubes being ejected row after row from the mold cylinder on to the plates. The plates when fully loadedwithcubes are conveyed to the front of :w the machine where they are readily removed suecessivelyfrom the conveyor; Those moving parts of the machine which contact with thebouillon stock, are sprayed with .avery fine spray of water which forms a film preventing the stock from ad hering andgu m ming up the machine;

in which the bouillon stocleis. su pl ed to a hop per, then automatically fed from the hopper and molded into cubes and the molded cubes ejected N. Y., a

Sl'litl NO. 181,265 (01. 107 g) As illustrated, the. frame Ill or suitable extensions thereof or brackets thereon support the various instrumentalities of the machine. The bouillon stock H is inserted into the removable upstanding extension l?- of; the. hopper l3 and extending from the side wallsv of the hopper.

l6 preferably is provided at. its 7 The feed plate front end with a convex edge l9. and is also preferably reciprocated in a direction inclined. to the horizontal so that the stock caught by ,the. front edge [9 is directed thereby downwardly and towardthe bottom M of the hopper at the same time as it is advanced toward the discharge open: ing 22. It will be understood as the plate i6 is reciprocated, a certain amount of the material I I is removed from thebottom of the hopper and advanced forwardly out of the hopper through the opening 22 and to the. row of mold openings 20 in the' hollow mold cylinder 2!. Said cylinder 2 l .is intermittently rotated by suitable mechanism later to bedescribed in such a manner that the continuous orimperforate part of its cylindrical The. cylinder is pro-vv rows of suitable mold openings 20 slightly spaced 1 the feed plate. The cylinder is further so rotated apart, longitudinally for. the reception at the that alongitudinal row of said openings is ar ranged atandin registration with the hopper discharge opening 22 when the mold cylinder. is at rest andat'the end-oi the forward stroke of the feed plate, whereby said plate forwards a suflicient' amount of bouillon stock into said open ings to fill them to the proper depth for later compression of the stock to the desired extent to form cubes of the proper size and density or firmness.

Beyond each of the ends of thecylinder 2i, is

an. end plate'ZS (Fig. .4), which is. secured to and rotates with th'ecylinder, and whichis pro-I. vided with a multiplicity of 1 radial slots .24; 25, etc;, for the passage of the respective extensions 26, 2], etc. projecting from the ends of the ejector bars 28, 29, etc.

I One of saidejector bars is pro' vided. for each row of mold openings in the cylinder. As illustrated, there beingsix of such longitudinal rows of mold openings, there are six ejector bars mounted for radial movement within the hollow cylinder. The outermost surface of each of the bars forms the bottom of the corresponding row of mold openings, said surface being in its innermost position (Fig. 3) when it reaches the filling position in which the stock is fed into the openings, and being in its outermost position for ejecting the molded cubes when it reaches the lowermost or ejecting station during the intermittent rotation of the cylinder. For reciprocating the bars at the proper time, the extension as 26 of the ejector bar is normally inserted into the central circular opening SE of the fixed ring 32 which is fixed to and forms a transverse extension of the frame l0, and is provided with a suit-' able radial opening 33 at its lower end for the loose reception of the radially slidable member 34. Said member 34 is fixed to and reciprocates with the vertically reciprocating yoke 35 and is provided with a recess having a curvedbottom edge of the same curvature as the inner face of the ring 32 for the reception of the extension as 2'! of the ejector bar when said bar approaches its lowermost or ejecting station during the rotation of the mold cylinder. Movement of the ejector bar 28 or of the other bars is effected only when the bar approaches its lowermost position or ejecting station on the rotation of the cylinder at which station, the projection 2'! of said bar enters the recess of the member 34, and

the yoke 35 is moved downwardly by means later to be described. Such movement of the yoke carries with it the member 34, which slides in the slot of the ring 32 and carries with it the ejector bar whose projection v2 has entered the recess of said member 34. The downward movement of the bar 25 carries said bar to eject the corresponding row of molded cubes from the mold cylinder and on to the plate 36.

It being understood that the openings 20 of each row of mold openings are quite close togetherand are separated by comparatively thin partitions 37, each of the bars as 28 is provided with a series of slots 38 adapted to receive the partitions 31 when the bar is at the lowermost or ejecting station (Fig. 4).

The means for intermittently rotating the .cylinder will now be described. The mold cylinder 2| is provided with suitable slotted end plates 3 2 secured to the adjacent end of the cylinder and fixed to the shaft 4! which is mounted for rotation in the frame bearings 42 and 43 and which projects beyond said bearings and the frame H] a. sufiicient distance to permit the Geneva'wheel 44 to be secured thereto. Said wheel 44is provided with six Geneva slots 45, the slots corresponding in number to the number of rows of mold openings in the mold cylinder. Mounted on the Geneva crank 41 is the Geneva pin 46,"which .pin

is adapted to enter one of the slots 45 and .on

the rotation of the crank to cause the desired:-

intermittent rotation of the Geneva wheel, andof the mold cylinder connected thereto. The crank 41 is in turn mounted on the shaft 48, which also carries the gear wheel 49 meshing with the gear wheel 50 on the shaft 5|. Said shaft 5| also supports the sprocket wheel 52 driven by the chain 53 passing about the sprocket pinion 54 on' the shaft 55 (Fig. 1). For continuously rotating the shaft 55 at the desired speed, a suitable reduction gear mechanism 56, (Fig. 2) of the usual type not necessary to be described in detail, is interposed between said shaft and the motor shaft 5'! which is driven by a suitable motor or other source'of to the stations at which the spraying of the parts 10 right of the uppermost station is the stock supply 7 I or feeding station. The next or uppermost sta is done. As has been indicated, the station to the tion, as the drum revolves in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3, is the cube-compressing station; the next two stations are idle stations at which the topsof the cubes and the surface of the mold cylinder are sprayed; the

lowermost station is the ejecting station and that station between the ejecting station and the feed-Q1,

ing station is another idle station in which the spraying of the mold cavities jis accomplishedl The number of stations may be varied at will. a

The feed mechanism at the feeding station having been described and the ejector mechanism having also been described, there now remains for description the mechanism for compressing the loose bouillon stock in the mold openings to form the cubes of. the desired size, shape e I density. Said mechanism comprises the corn-f pressor plate (ill carried by the yoke 35 and at its the reciprocation of the yoke 35 which is provided with extensions 62 sliding in the fixed guidesf63 of 1' I yoke are the frame. The upright parts of the each provided with a suitable slot 64 for the passage of the cylinder shaft 4! and to prevent in terference with said shaft when the yoke is re ciprocated.

Asis shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the yoke is con nected at its lower end by the link 65 totherockat 61 to the frame of the machine. The fork 56 f at the free end of said-lever is provided with a lever 66 and through the' link65 causes recipro-v cation of the yoke 35 and the compressor plate 60 to cause said compressor plateto enter the mold j openings 20 when they reach their uppermost p'o-" sitions at the compressing station-and to compress the bouillon stock therein while the mold cylinder, is at rest. It will be noted that since both the'compressor plate and the ejector bar are operated by the yoke, one row of cubes are compressed at the compressing station while another row is ejected simultaneously at the ejecting station.

As has been indicated, the compressed cubes are carried to the ejecting station and by means" of the bars 26, 29, are ejected on to the plates 36.

Said plates are removably carried by the pair of each passing around a set of sprocket wheels 12 and 13 on the shafts 14 and l5-respectively (Fig;

3); Secured at longitudinally spacedintervals to each of said chains are the chain lugs 16,11 and the like, said lugs being spaced apart a distance transversely spaced endless conveyor chains H, 1

equal to the length of the cube-receiving plate 36.":

The chains H are preferably spaced parttranslowermost edge being formed into. a series of J- plungers 5 I substantially in the form of-cubes and; each designed to enter one of the mold openings: 20 in the uppermost position of said row of openings and while the cylinder is at rest. The plate 60 is .reciprocated at the compressing station by 45 er lever 65, which leveris pivoted at one end as Y versely of the machine a distance substantially equal to or slightly less than the length of' the mold cylinder 21, the plate 38fitting'between said chains-andrestingin suitable-recesses in the lugs 16, 11; that is, the front edge of the plate rests in the rear recessesof the" front lugs 1'! as viewed in Fig. 3 and its rear portion rests in the front recesses of the lugs 16, whereby its rear edge is acted on by said lugs 16- to advance the plate on the operation of the chain. It will be understood that the chains. H are intermittently advanced the proper distance to space the cubes deposited on the plates 36 the desired distance apart, and that means are provided for increasing the distance through which the chains are moved when the plate-holding lugs as 16 reach the ejecting station. Byreason of the additional movement of the chain, the rear end of the loaded plate is advanced past the ejecting station, and the forward'end of the next succeeding empty plate 36 brought into the proper position to receive the next row of ejected cubes, so that no cubes are deposited in the space between the rear end of I one plate and the-front end of the next plate.

For intermittently advancing the chains II, a ratchet wheel 18 is securedto the front chain shaft 15 (Fig. 3), said wheel'beingoperated by the ratchet pawl 79 pivoted at one end of the bell crank lever 80, which is loosely mounted on the To the other end 8| of said lever, is connected one end of the connecting rod 82, the other end of which is pivoted to the crank 83 secured to the shaft 51 Normally; only part of the stroke, of the pawl 19 is effective to rotate the ratchet wheel 18, the remaining part of the stroke being rendered ineffective for that purpose by the interposition between the pawl and the wheel of the pivoted ratchet tooth guard 84. The front end 85 of the guard is bevelled to permit the pawl to ride up. thereon on the last part of the rear stroke of the pawl, and out of contact with the ratchet teeth.

When,,. however, the chains are to be advanced their full distances, that is, when one plate 38 has been fully loaded and the next plate brought into position to receive cubes, the guard 84 is removed. from the ratchet wheel and the full stroke of the pawl 18 permitted to become effective to rotate said wheel. The mechanism,

illustrated for this purpose comprises the ball crank lever 86 connected; to the guard 84 and pivotally mounted as at 81, and pulled by the spring 88 into its normal position shown in Fig. 3. Pivoted to project forwardly from the upper end offithe lever 86 is the notched member 89 having the notch 98 therein and normally'resting. on the fixed cross-bar 9|. Said bar is provlded with an upstanding projection 92 adapted to be engaged at the proper time by the pin 93 projecting transversely from each of the lugs ll and 16.. When so engaged, the member 89 is. pulled forwardly by the pin 93 on the last party of the. movement of the chain just before the.

last row of cubes is deposited on. the loaded plate 36'. 'The forward movement of the member 89- is continued until the notch reaches the bar 91,. when the member 89 will drop under the pressure of the pin 93., the fixed bar. 9| entering the notch 90, whereby the member 89 is removed from. the path of the pin 93. Such forwand-movement ofv the member 89 rotates the bell crank lever 86 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3, thereby withdrawing the guard 84 from the upper teeth of the ratchet wheel and permitting the pawl 19 to become fully operative on its next stroke. On said next stroke the necessary additional movement is given to the chains 'H to carry the lugs 16 past the ejecting station and to bring the forward end of" the next plate 36 into its proper position-. At the same time the pin 93 passes over the projection 92 of the member 90 and permits the spring 88 during the last part of the advancing stroke of the pawl 19 to rotate the bell crank lever 86' and thereby to raise the member 89 off the bar 9i and to retract said member 89 into its normal position.

As has been hereinbefore indicated, means are provided for spraying with afine spray of water certain moving surfaces which contact with the bouillon stock to prevent adhesion thereto. Said means comprises suitable water tanks, atomizers and movable nozzles. As shown in Figs.'1' and 2, the water tank 95' is arranged atone side of the machine in front of the mold cylinder 2|. Compressed air is delivered into the compressed air line 96 from any suitable source and enters the branch pipe 97, then passing into the flexible pipe 98 intoa suitable atomizer 99. 'I'he interior of the atomizer may beof the customary and usual construction, being provided with suitable openings whereby the compressed air entering the atomizer draws water from the tank 95 through the pipe Hi0 on which the atomizer is mounted and atomizes the water into the form of a fine conical spray. The atomizer is'oscillated to a slight extent to direct the spray against the front part of the cylindrical surface of the cylinder thereby to wash off any of the bouillon stock which might have adhered to said surface as said surface passes the hopper opening 22, and to maintain said surface moist,

to prevent anyadditional stock from adhering pivoted to the member I98 projecting from the crank and at its other end is secured to the crank l8! on the cylinder shaft 4|. On the rotation of said cylinder shaft, the crank I8! is given a partial rotation operating the rod Hi5 and oscillating the crank l9! and the nozzle 99'.

Similarly, the tank H9 (Fig. 2) is provided with a water pipe I H connected to the nozzle 1 ['2 (Fig. 2), there being an additional air pipe connection H3 to said nozzle from the branch I M of the compressed air line 95. The nozzle H2 is secured to the shaft M5 for oscillatory movement, said shaft carrying the crank I It to which is secured one end of the link ill. the other end nozzle directs the spray into those mold cavities 201 which have passed the ejecting station and which contain no cubes, thereby moistening the interior walls of the mold cavities preparatory for the feeding of bouillon stock thereinto at the next'succeeding station. The spray also serves to moisten the rear surface of the cylinder 2I and the drippings therefrom also serve to moisten the plates 36.

A link as I2I connects the crank III! to a suitable extension I22 of the feed plate I 6 where by the feed plate is oscillated to perform its proper feeding operation. To oscillate said crank H9 (Fig. 2), a connecting rod I23 connects the end of said crank to a suitable crank I24 on the shaft 5|. In order that the feed plate be properly moistened, a third water tank I240. is suitably mounted on the branch I25 extending from the fixed guide I8. Said tank is provided with a nozzle I26 receiving water through the pipe I21 entering the tank and receiving compressed air through the flexible pipe I28 joined to the branch air pipe 4.

To protect the motor 53 and the mechanism connected thereto from the drippingsof water condensing from the various sprays, the-motor is covered by a suitable sheet metal cover I33 (Fig. l) which slopes in the proper direction and is suitably formed to convey the condensed water to a suitable receptacle where the water drippings are collected. A second plate as I3I (Fig. 3) perforated at theproper points, is arranged underneath the chains II and above the shaft 5| and collects the condensed moisture and permits said moisture to drip therethrough at the selected perforations on to the cover I30 without dripping on the machine parts and connections.

To insure against the possibility of the ejected cubes adhering to the ejecting surface 30 of the ejector bars 28, 29 in the ejecting station and being carriedv past said station by the cylinder 2|, and to further insure that the cubes will be deposited on the conveyor plates 36, a scraper, cutoff or stop plate I29 (Fig. 3) is provided. Said plate extends longitudinally of the cylinder 2I and is arranged just below the cylinder in position to engage the upper parts of the rear surface of the row of cubes ejected from the mold cylinder 'at the ejecting station. The row of cubes is retained at the ejecting station and on the plate 36 by the cut-ofi plate I29, which, on the movement of the cylinder past said station, forcibly removesthe row from the surface 30 should said row adhere to the surface.

It will be seen that I have provided a simple and efficient machine for automatically forming-v and ejecting cubes of bouillon stock without danger of the stock adhering to the various parts of the machine so that the machine maybe kept in a strictly sanitary condition, a matter which has heretofore been difficult, even with manually operated devices.

While I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of my invention, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, but intend to claim the invention as broadly as may be permitted by the state of the prior art and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine for making bouillon cubes, a hollow mold provided with a series of rows of cubic mold cavities, a pair of ejector members Within the mold forming the bottoms of a pair of opposed rows of said cavities, means for filling one row of cavities with bouillon stock, reciprocating means for compressing the stock within said one row and against one of said members to form bouillon cubes, and means including a member secured to and operated by the reciprocating I means and engaging an end of the other ejector member for moving the other memberto eject the molded and compressed cubes from an opposed row of cavities.

2. In a machine for making bouillon cubes, a.

hollow cylindricalmold provided with a series of longitudinal rows of bottomless mold cavities, a

single flat slotted bar within the mold for each of said rows, each of said bars having a surface forming the bottom inner ends of a correspondingrow of said cavities, a reciprocatory flat slotted plunger adapted to enter a row of cavities to compress material in said cavities against the bar, and means secured to the plunger for operating the bar opposite the plunger on the movement of the plunger to eject the compressed material from the row.

3. In a machine for making bouillon cubes, an;

intermittently rotatable hollow mold cylinder provided with a series of rows of mold cavities, said cavities being separated by partitions each having a pair .of parallel idewalls, means for feeding-bouillon stock into a row of said cavities,

including a hopper having an inclined bottom, a slide reciprocating on saidbottom in an inclined direction into and out of said hopper,,a slotted. reciprocating yoke having a series of pairs of par-;

allel side walls adapted to enter between the side walls of the partitions, and having parallel front and rear walls, said yoke compressinginto cubes the stock inserted into the cavities by said slide.

a series of ejector bars carried by and in the interior of the cylinder, said bars being of substan-. tially uniform thickness and being providedwith a series of parallel slots at the-outer edge portion thereof, said slots receiving the partitions there-.. in, the outermost edge of each of said bars form-,

ing the movable bottom of a row of cavities, a movable member secured to and reciprocated by the yoke, and having an opening therein for the reception of an end of one of the bars, said mem-,

ber moving said bar outwardly on the inward movement of the yoke to eject the cubes fromone of the rows of cavities.

4. In a machine for making bouillon cubes, a}

hollow cylindrical mold provided witha series of longitudinal rows of bottomless mold cavities, the surface of said mold being imperforate between the cavities, a bar within the mold for each of:

said rows, each of said bars being ofsubstantially uniform thickness and being of generally rec-J tangular shape and slotted at its outer edge portion and having a longitudinally projecting end,

the slotted outer edge of the bar forming the bottom inner ends of a corresponding row of cavities, a yoke having a slotted lower edge adaptedto enter a row of said cavities to compress the.

material therein, means for reciprocating the yoke, and means for moving each of said bars successively toward the outer end of its row of cavities when it reaches a position opposite the yoke to eject material from a row comprising a'fixed incomplete ring having spacedv apart ends, said ring engaging and guiding the projecting ends of,

the bars, and a member slidable radially between the spaced ends of said ring and receiving the projecting end of the bar opposed to the yoke, said slidable member being secured to and thereby reciprocating with theyoke.

LoUIs BROWNSTEIN. I 

